Úlfr Lv 1^II

Esa stǫllurum stillis
stafnrúm Haralds jafnan
— ónauðigr fekk auðar —
innan þǫrf at hvarfa,
ef, hǫrbrekka, hrøkkva,
hrein, skulum tveir fyr einum
(ungr kenndak mér) undan,
(annat) þingamanni.

Esa þǫrf stǫllurum stillis at hvarfa jafnan innan stafnrúm Haralds—fekk auðar ónauðigr—, ef, {hrein hǫrbrekka}, skulum hrøkkva undan tveir fyr einum þingamanni; ungr kenndak mér annat.

There is no need for the lord’s marshals always to idle inside Haraldr’s prow-area—I acquired wealth without coercion—, if, {pure flax-slope} [WOMAN], we must flee two before one þingamaðr; as a youth, I got accustomed to something else.

Mss: Kˣ(575r), papp18ˣ(267v), 39(30rb), F(51vb), E(25v), J2ˣ(292v) (Hkr); H(73r), Hr(52rb) (H-Hr); Mork(18v) (Mork); Flat(203rb) (Flat)

Readings: [1] Esa (‘Era’): Erat Mork, ‘Er ath’ Flat    [2] stafnrúm: stafni um E;    jafnan: jafna Mork    [3] fekk (‘fekk ek’): so H, Hr, Mork, Flat, ‘fec ec’ or ‘fæ ec’ Kˣ, fæ ek papp18ˣ, F, E, J2ˣ, ‘fé ec’ 39    [4] þǫrf: ‘þꜹf’ F;    at: af Flat;    hvarfa: so E, Mork, Flat, hverfa Kˣ, papp18ˣ, 39, F, J2ˣ, H, Hr    [5] hǫrbrekka (‘hꜹrbrechan’): ‘hꜹrbreckan’ papp18ˣ, ‘haurbeccan’ 39, herbrekkan H, Mork, Flat, ‘herbrezkan’ Hr    [6] hrein: so E, hreins Kˣ, papp18ˣ, 39, F, J2ˣ, Hr, Mork, Flat, ‘hréns’ H;    skulum: so 39, F, H, Hr, Mork, skulu Kˣ, papp18ˣ, E, J2ˣ, Flat    [8] þinga‑: þingaða‑ Hr

Editions: Skj AI, 403, Skj BI, 372, Skald I, 185, NN §806; ÍF 28, 175 (HSig ch. 79), F 1871, 242, E 1916, 90; Fms 6, 401 (HSig ch. 113); Mork 1867, 111, Mork 1928-32, 265, Andersson and Gade 2000, 263, 480 (MH); Flat 1860-8, III, 388 (MH).

Context: Before Haraldr harðráði embarks on his expedition to England in 1066, some say that England may be difficult to conquer because of the army known as þingamenn, whose soldiers are said to be twice as brave as Haraldr’s men. Úlfr responds with this st.

Notes: [All]: The sense of the st. is that it would not be worth Úlfr’s while to go on the expedition, if Haraldr’s warriors anticipate in advance that they will flee before an Engl. force inferior in numbers. — [1] stǫllurum ‘marshals’: A stallari ‘marshal’ was one of the most prominent retainers of a king, whose duty it was to communicate the king’s decisions to the populace. Haraldr harðráði had two marshals, Úlfr and Styrkárr. — [2] stafnrúm ‘prow-area’: The place in the prow occupied by a king’s or chieftain’s warriors (see Falk 1912, 84; Jesch 2001a, 145). — [2] jafnan ‘always’: Skj B connects this adv. with the following cl., which creates an awkward w. o. (see NN §806) and also violates the syntax of an independent cl. (see Kuhn 1983, 117). — [3] fekk (‘fekk ek’; 1st pers. sg. pret. indic.) ‘I acquired’: Both Skj B and Skald (and ÍF 28) adopt fæk (‘fæ ek’; 1st pers. sg. pres. indic.) ‘I acquire’ (so 39, F, E, J2ˣ). The first word is blotched and difficult to read in Kˣ (either ‘fec’ corrected from ‘fæ’ or ‘fæ’ corrected from ‘fec’), but papp18ˣ has ‘fæ ec’, which indicates that this was likely the original Kringla reading. In view of the final cl. (‘as a youth, I was accustomed to something else’), the pret. tense is preferable. — [5, 6] hrein hǫrbrekka ‘pure flax-slope [WOMAN]’: The identity of this woman is unknown. For similar apostrophes to unknown women, see Note to Hharð Gamv 3/1. — [6] skulum (1st pers. pl. pres. indic.) ‘we should’: Earlier eds adopt the variant skulu (3rd pers. pl. pres. indic.) ‘they should’ (so Kˣ, papp18ˣ, E, J2ˣ, Flat), which is possible but lower on the stemma. — [8] þingamanni: The Engl. company of þingamenn was instituted by Knútr inn ríki Sveinsson (Cnut the Great) around 1018 but disbanded after the Norman Conquest in 1066. According to Saxo (2005, I, 10, 18, pp. 670-81), it consisted of six thousand chosen men (see also ÍF 35, 100, n. 1; ÍF 27, 19 n. 1; Jesch 2001a, 192, 194). The term þingamaðr most likely derives from OE þeningmann ‘servant-man’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. Fms = Sveinbjörn Egilsson et al., eds. 1825-37. Fornmanna sögur eptir gömlum handritum útgefnar að tilhlutun hins norræna fornfræða fèlags. 12 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
4. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
6. Andersson, Theodore M. and Kari Ellen Gade, trans. 2000. Morkinskinna: The Earliest Icelandic Chronicle of the Norwegian Kings (1030-1157). Islandica 51. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
7. Jesch, Judith. 2001a. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge: Boydell.
8. Falk, Hjalmar. 1912. Altnordisches Seewesen. Wörter und Sachen 4. Heidelberg: Winter.
9. Flat 1860-8 = Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and C. R. Unger, eds. 1860-8. Flateyjarbók. En samling af norske konge-sagaer med indskudte mindre fortællinger om begivenheder i og udenfor Norge samt annaler. 3 vols. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
10. Kuhn, Hans (1899). 1983. Das Dróttkvætt. Heidelberg: Winter.
11. Mork 1928-32 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1928-32. Morkinskinna. SUGNL 53. Copenhagen: Jørgensen.
12. ÍF 26-8 = Heimskringla. Ed. Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson. 1941-51.
13. ÍF 35 = Danakonunga sǫgur. Ed. Bjarni Guðnason. 1982.
14. F 1871 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1871. Fríssbók: Codex Frisianus. En samling af norske konge-sagaer. Christiania (Oslo): Malling.
15. E 1916 = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1916. Eirspennill: AM 47 fol. Nóregs konunga sǫgur: Magnús góði – Hákon gamli. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske historiske kildeskriftskommission.
16. Mork 1867 = Unger, C. R., ed. 1867. Morkinskinna: Pergamentsbog fra første halvdel af det trettende aarhundrede. Indeholdende en af de ældste optegnelser af norske kongesagaer. Oslo: Bentzen.
17. Internal references
18. (forthcoming), ‘ Heimskringla, Haralds saga Sigurðssonar’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=142> (accessed 25 April 2024)
19. (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Magnúss saga góða ok Haralds harðráða’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=147> (accessed 25 April 2024)
20. Kari Ellen Gade (ed.) 2009, ‘Haraldr harðráði Sigurðarson, Gamanvísur 3’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 38.